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Horrifying article in Sunday Times

MeSci

ME/CFS since 1995; activity level 6?
Messages
8,231
Location
Cornwall, UK
Oh, come on, get real, he was responding to a specific and serious allegation. Charles is human, and has feelings. How would you feel if someone posted such an allegation about you on the forum? You'd be upset, right? And you'd either complain or leave the forum. Put yourself in his situation - he works flat out to assist our community - with little reward or thanks - and then gets those sorts of allegations hurled at him. I'm not surprised he spoke out.

This really doesn't need saying but, personally, I've only ever found Charles to be helpful, polite and professional. I don't know him well, but I'll judge him on his actions, and not on a single (understandable) comment said in the heat of the moment. The rest of us never say things on this forum in the heat of the moment, do we?

I hope he gets the root of the allegation sorted out.

To be honest, I thought that it might have been a heroic act in defence of patients, although I don't know why one would need to defend them against Byron Hyde!

I guess it was either a malicious fabrication or an error. Either way, the two of us who quoted it were innocent bystanders and not the source of the wrongdoing.
 
Messages
13,774
I've appreciated Charles Shepherd's consistent response to the sort of bilge we've seen in the last week. I was taken aback by this statement which suggests that he holds patients in contempt and identifies with the very people whose abrogation of responsibility has landed us in this mess.

I agree with @Bob . I thought Charle's reply was a little off, but it's a personal thing, and we can all get irritated by stuff like that.
 

SilverbladeTE

Senior Member
Messages
3,043
Location
Somewhere near Glasgow, Scotland
Like Mark Twain, sort of, I may not want some sods killed, but their obituaries would put a smile on their face :p
Their is a hell of a difference between that and a "death threat", and we are but Human.
And I don't see why anyone would threaten a genuine researcher just because they got a "negative", that's how Science works, but I do understand this illness and the utter crap we get can drive folk cuckoo in the end!

And I'm not talking ala "rid me of that meddlesome priest", either. Some folk "who may not be mentioned" are sure as heck not Thomas A' Beckett! :D


Planck1.png


This IS the way things are, to an extent.
Science is not some "perfect being of altruistic honesty", to some extent it's a load of dirty crap, where egos, tenure, pensions, demands to be published, profit etc can corrupt things. This has been proven repeatedly for last 150 years, but in recent years, most especially in pharmaceuticals.
most researchers are honest, but people...are people.

And from experience, like it or not, it seems that the majority of doctors in the UK, suck.
Good docs are worth their weight in gold :) But the arrogant, incompetent, abusive or worse ones are far too common :/

Also as I like to quote:
If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

We have been screwed over by those in power, those who should have helped us, and thus our loathing and scorn against some are earned.
The Medical profession is not merely Victorian, it is bloody well Medieval in how it operates (and that can be shown). There's a vast difference between being a "physician", and how the "official professional group/culture" acts.
How many voices were raised in concert, in Public, against the crap that the B.M.A. "old guard" has allowed over the years, hm?
Sigh :/
 

Dolphin

Senior Member
Messages
17,567
Words almost fail me at this latest attack on ME sufferers and lionisation of the psychoquacks. Hopefully someone can post the full article. I have been sent a copy via a forum but it has lost some formatting. A scanned copy would be good. Here is the link:

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/Magazine/Features/article1252529.ece

No doubt I and many other law-abiding people are now on a blacklist due to being 'activists' which it appears is regarded negatively. Perhaps human rights activism is similarly regarded by these people?

To write such a long article and almost completely ignore the actual science is unforgivable.
Somebody asked me was he going to be written to following the tribunal result. Looks like he passed away earlier this year
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...Michael-Hanlon-death-heart-attack-age-51.html

Photo: http://hanlonblog.dailymail.co.uk/2...t-that-does-not-mean-that-it-is-not-real.html
 
Messages
38
Words almost fail me at this latest attack on ME sufferers and lionisation of the psychoquacks. Hopefully someone can post the full article. I have been sent a copy via a forum but it has lost some formatting. A scanned copy would be good. Here is the link:

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/Magazine/Features/article1252529.ece

No doubt I and many other law-abiding people are now on a blacklist due to being 'activists' which it appears is regarded negatively. Perhaps human rights activism is similarly regarded by these people?

To write such a long article and almost completely ignore the actual science is unforgivable.

I was contacted, out of the blue, by the journalist in November 2012 for this article. I knew where this was going therefore I ignored the request. Ultimately he interviewed LS. This is part of what MH sent to me:
 

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